A tidbit from the paleo research list...(info posted w/o permission--hope I
don't get scolded but I can't imagine bothering anyone for permission to
share a public web pointer...)

Find a report of  a four hundred thousand year old hearth in The Electronic
Telegraph issue 809 entitled  *Barbecues a Thing of the Past*, by Aisling
Irwin

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

You have to register but that's no big deal. The find certainly isn't
conclusive proof of cooking (yet) but is a welcome addition to the paucity
of research which dates our ancestor's cooking fires...

Cheers,
Kirt